Acceptance into AmeriCorps NCCC and Becoming an Angel

It took almost a year for my status to change from pending, but I'd be damned if I gave up. "I can wait as long as they want me to." It's not like I have anything else to do. I religiously commented in the NCCC group on Facebook and a lot of people dropped out because they got a job or started school, or just simply got tired of waiting.

Why would I get tired of waiting? I have nothing better to do.

Job prospects weren't looking so good for both me and my mom and we consoled each other. My mom became my best friend in these months and I to her as well.

One day, I nonchalantly bring the mail into the house and see a thin envelope from AmeriCorps. I could have fainted from the excitement. I opened it and it read "Congratulations, you are accepted into AmeriCorps NCCC on the Vinton, Iowa campus!"

Accepted wasn't scratched out and decline wasn't written next to it, and it was signed at the bottom. This was legit. I was ecstatic, but my mom was more vocal about than anyone else. A "congratulations" to my mom meant yelling it so the whole neighborhood could hear and calling all our relatives to let them know. It makes me wonder what would have happened if I weren't accepted.

I smiled while I read the paper over and over again, and watched my online status change from "pending" to "accepted" as the days passed. Everyone in the NCCC facebook group who stuck through the long wait posted with so much excitement saying that they were accepted and I followed suit.

This is the day I decided to change my life completely.

The last time I had sex was some time in September of 2008 right before my ex dumped me over the phone (it's funny how guys always dump you right after they fuck you). From that day forward, I decided to refrain from sex completely- no oral sex, no vaginal sex, no dry humping- nothing. I wanted to remain celibate which was my dream ever since I first had sex at the age of 17.

Outside of being celibate, I also decided to become a guardian angel to any person I met who was being bullied. I, more than anyone else, should know how much it hurts to be bullied. The extent of it was far worse and continued for much longer than what I squeezed into a few paragraphs in 10 minutes on Blogger. I know how much it hurts for someone to belittle you and call you names and everyone around does nothing but watch and laugh about it. I want to be that person who stands up for them and stops the bullying.

The start date for AmeriCorps NCCC was February 2, 2010.

I celebrated my 21st birthday, bought all my needed essentials, and boarded a plane headed to Vinton, IA- a town I never knew existed and not even knowing exactly what the fuck I would be doing there or who the fuck I would meet.

But that is what made it so exciting :)